Joseph Lark
Joseph Lark is a young genius and pokemon trainer currently giving Team Liberty his services. Personality Lark, at first sight, appears to be a lazy bum. That's because he is. However, that is not his only defining personality trait. Beneath the facade of an apathetic sloth lies a calculating and analytical mind that is always looking ahead to the future and sifting through future possibilities to find the most likely ones (and subsequently, draw conclusions from them). His mind, albeit easily distracted, is rational and quite knowledgeable, making him a far more powerful foe than he a appears to be. And to round out his personality, Joseph has the gift of intuition: He experiences regular epiphanies that lead him closer to the epicenter of each crisis. Due to certain traits of Lark's personality, he is the epitome of a strategic mastermind beneath his facade of lazyness. His analytical thinking style enables him to pinpoint weaknesses, while his intuitive side gives him a unique 'spark' that allows him true brilliance when combined with a rational thought process and ability to sift through many future possibilities to find the most probable ones. Combined, these traits make him a genius at warfare. His biggest problem is his near-obssessive planning and thinking, which can keep his head in the clouds a bit much. History Pre-RPG During the literal rise of the Rockets to power, Joseph lived in Lilycove City with the rest of his aristocratic family. He was known to disappear from the rest of his family for long periods when not being tutored to think, read, or simply sleep, though it became harder to find him after he disappeared as he grew older (mainly due to him getting better at sneaking and hiding). As well, a young Scraggly which the parents in the Lark family assumed was a stray and 'no good news' often followed him around and silently accompanied the child. Because of these things, he was largely shunned within the confines of his ancestral manor. The family had no idea what to do with him or the pokemon By the time he turned 16, Joseph had foreseen a probability of a dire future if Team Liberty did not recieve as much aid as it could get. Therefore, he finally appealed to his parents to leave and become a Pokemon Trainer, asking them merely for some poke balls, enough food and water to get to Kanto, some spare change, a one-strap pack, and two pokemon which he had previously picked from a breeding center nearby: A sadistic Remoraid and a silent Joltik. As well, Joseph promised that he would take the Scraggly (now a Scrafty) if he could leave. His parents, glad to be rid of a disgrace to their family and a nuisance, let him have what he wanted and go. However, what Joseph hadn't told them was that he was going to become a pokemon trainer of Team Liberty. After christening his new pokemon Manuel, Sasori, and Namikaze, respectively, he made his way through Hoenn and into Kanto. He avoided battles as much as possible while travelling on the words of rumors alone until he came to The Alamo some time after the invasion there and joined Team Liberty. At some unknown point in time later when he was still 16, Joseph was coming back from one of his first missions and took a bit of time off resting under a tree by the way of Kanto Route 4, allowing his pokemon to come out of their poke balls. Forming Relations Meeting Hex It was there that Joseph saw an approaching trainer on the road. A Break Catching Time Investigating The Rumors of The Aqua Revival Rendezvous Return to Lilycove Infiltration Incarceration by Aqua Battling History Pokemon Quotes "You know, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to investigating those rumors of Team Aqua...But on the other hand, I'm perfectly content to take as much time as needed getting to their former base in my hometown." -Lark to Hex while the two are taking their time on Hoenn Route 221 Lark raised his hand. Not with exultation that they were finally fighting again. Not with curiosity that he'd get to see Hex' strategy. In fact, the hand-raising was with nothing. Nothing, that was, save the pure icy fires of cognition. '' ''"Der Eisen Drachen, Bulk Up. El Rayo Araña, Swagger Jackal." -Lark makes the first move in his second match against Hex "Drachen, withstand, Dragon Tail, and GOOD. Rayo, GOOD and t-bolt the Prinplup." Lark was now certain the game was into its final moves. As he gave his commands, he could see Manuel shrugging off the damage from the waterfall without much trouble due to his high defenses still boosted. He saw Sasori finally come to a stop tumbling through the receding waters with its back to a tree as it attempted to scramble away from the charging Zweilous, fortunately only getting hit one time so far. And he was certain that although the fight had been good, he now had the upper hand. Confusion had not kicked in yet. But Lark had learned his probability, and he knew that each time Jackal moved, the chance of it attacking itself increased exponentially. By now, the chances of the Prinplup disobeying orders and hitting its own body was a lot higher than the original 30%. Combined with damage from the STAB x2 power thunderbolt, the poor penguin would definitely be out of the fight in one or two turns. But what if the penguin blocked the thunderbolt? That was exactly what Joseph was counting on. In chess, among its higher-level strategists, certain types of moves were renowned for their tactical and/or strategic value. One such move was called a 'fork'. Essentially, a forking move capitalized on the movements of opposing pieces-or in some cases, lack of movements-and the versatility of one's own pieces to threaten two opposing pieces at once. A forking move forced opponents to make a choice: Would they sacrifice piece A to save piece B, or sacrifice B to save A? And that was exactly what Joseph had played from his hand. If the thunderbolt was blocked, it did not matter; the penguin's water-based blocking moves would just send the charge into the water around the now-Scrafty-less Zweilous, which would almost certainly finish it off if it somehow stayed awake after both a boosted STAB x2 power Drain Punch and a boosted Dragon Tail from Manuel. And even if the fork wasn't a fork, it still gave the Prinplup another move to possibly get confused on blocking and OHKO'd by the force of the lightning after confusion, or maybe even without it. So, as Manuel sprang off the back of Pulser, slamming its tail into one of its necks and smacking both heads together, and a battered Sasori scrambled away, raising its forelegs to summon a bolt of lightning which blasted towards Jackal, Lark grinned finally. The match had been well played, and he had felt the rush as before, but checkmate was on the horizon. -Lark calculates Lark nodded to the request, adrenaline rush finally leaving his body as he returned to the world. Blinking once to make sure the battle had just happened again, he retrieved a tired, but still stoic Manuel with a nod. Woah... ''That was even better than the first time, thought Joseph with a grin. Ever since he'd met Hex, his view on battling had changed. It wasn't just something, it was the thing. It invigorated the strategist, excited him, made him feel as though he was on a higher plane of existence.'' He didn't know how, or why. But what he did know right now was that battling was one of the best things that had ever happened to him, and he'd thank Hex for that...Later, of course. Not because of the time they were wasting standing around; merely because he was still too lazy to do such a thing immediately. Finally he turned to the third member of their group and turned serious, almost the picture of Manuel for a moment. "Tim, I presume you are done eating? If so, we will proceed to journey to Lilycove," he said quietly and with a degree of newfound authority. -Joseph after his second battle with Hex Lark analyzed the Tentacruel coldly. This thing wouldn't go down easily. Normally, a trainer would send out one 'mon to do battle against another. That was only fair, after all. Lark did not deem a gargantuan Tentacruel tearing through the wall and trying to grab him and his friends a normal happenstance. -Lark distinguishes a gargantuan Tentacruel tearing through a wall and trying to grab him and his friends from a normal happenstance As the three 'mon launched their respective attacks at the center of the Tentacruel's body, Joseph analyzed the huge thing's movements. At its size, it had great power. But on the other hand, it was doubtful that it could dodge the three moves due to said size and, well, being a jellyfish. That was what he was obviously counting on. But what he doubted the Aqua dude would know to see was his last one. Psybeam was a move advantageous against the jellyfish. And a Dragon Tail could at the very least scare it. So after the first two moves, Lark felt confident he could slip a Thunder Wave in. And when he did, he was certain he could gain offensive momentum-paralyzing the monster would slow it down and possibly prevent it from moving. There was a saying in chess where he came from: "The pawn's soft steps to victory are not heard when the queen thunders across the battlefield." The Thunder Wave was the pawn. The queen-or queens, as was the case-were the Psybeam and Dragon Tail. All Joseph had to do was sit back and let the trick work. -Lark strategizes Trivia *Joseph's overall design is largely based off that of Shikamaru Nara's from Naruto (they're both lazy and brilliant, care more for their friends than they appear to, and often use chess or one of its relatives figuratively to strategize). *Joseph Lark is the first character in the RPG to be quadrilingual-that is, possessing fluency in four languages. *Each of Lark's pokemon are named in reference to different people, both real and fictional, and also mean things in other languages which also call back or reveal the tactics used with them by their trainer. **'Manuel' references Manuel dos Reis Machado, a master of Capoiera, which Der Blitz envisions Scraftys to fight with (as well as Muay Thai). It is also a Spanish name and a shortened version of Hebrew Immanuel, ''meaning 'God with us'. ***'Der Eisen Drachen', as well, means 'The Iron Dragon' in German. As Manuel is a fighter who often absorbs attacks and hits back, and is related to a dragon, the name is apt. **'Sasori' is a callback to Sasori of The Red Sand from ''Naruto Shippuden, who is a literal puppetmaster using threads to control his (many) machines. Spiders, meanwhile, spin their own threads, thus making the name fitting. As well, Sasori literally means 'scorpion' in Japanese, which also references the Galvantula's speedy 'stings' of status conditions in its fighting value. ***'El Rayo Araña' is Spanish meaning 'The Lightning Spider'. While this aptly describes Sasori's species, it also is a pun on his strategic value as a powerful 'lightning speed'-ster. **'Namikaze' references Minato Namikaze of Naruto Shippuden as well, who possesses precise teleportation powers and is a legendary hero and fighter. Whilst Minato is a lot more powerful than any Remoraid, the fish is precise and an outstanding fighter in its own right. The name also means in Japanese 'Waves and Wind', which are both where Remoraid are found, and also two of its primary weapons. ***'Der Vasserbewaffneten' is German for 'water-armed', which is a pun that explains Namikaze's long-range, with-water fighting style, as firearms in english are guns. It will become a double pun if it evolves, as it will then have many literal arms. *Lark says "Parting is such sweet sorrow" upon being captured by Team Aqua and realizing that his 'mon are most likely to be separated from him, quoting the famous Shakespearian play Romeo and Juliet. Category:Team Liberty Members